The Lion of Venice
by Mutters
Summary: Scorpius Malfoy's first year is pretty difficult, his housemates hate him, his family is being framed for a crime they didn't commit, and it's up to Scorpius and his friends to fix it all.


**Author's Notes**

I'm glad you've decided to check out my story. I'm going to try pretty hard to make this unlike other next generation stories, and I hope you enjoy. Unfortunately, I do not have a Beta, so any mistakes are my own. General comments and constructive criticism are always welcome, and since I have to say it: Harry Potter and all of the ideas/characters/etc. are the property of the magnificent J.K. Rowling, who I hope does not mind me borrowing them.

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Scorpius Malfoy did not think he looked as much like his father as people said he did. Scorpius _did _have blonde hair, gray eyes, and pale skin. He also had a slightly pointed nose and a more than slightly pointed chin, but that's where Scorpius thought the similarities ended. At eleven years old, Draco Malfoy already had a thin face and skinny frame while Scorpius still had an exceptional amount of baby fat on his cheeks and considered himself to have more of an athletic look than that of a starved Parisian model. Additionally, Scorpius did not spend very much time preening in front of mirrors and perfecting his hair (which he was certain his father had done since he was old enough to look in a mirror). Scorpius much preferred the just-off-a-broom wind blown look that his Grandmother referred to as awfully working class looking. Nobody else on the platform seemed to notice any of this however. The first thing they saw was a Malfoy.

Scorpius tried to raise his chin proudly, as his father had told him he should, but he found his head felt rather heavier than usual today. His hands shook a bit in the pocket of his too-loose robes. That was something else that Scorpius was different from his father about. Robes were considered awfully girly and old fashioned by kids his age, and most preferred jeans and t-shirts. Scorpius himself had quite a collection of nice jeans and had loudly complained about not being allowed to wear any of them to the train.

"Look here, Scorpius." Draco said to him in a rather hushed voice. "It is of the utmost importance that you make our family look _good_." Scorpius blinked at the emphasis on the last word. Sure, Father had been a death eater, but he wasn't in Azkaban and neither were Grandma and Grandfather. Certainly that meant that they were already considered to be good?

Draco looked down at him and blinked rather slowly, "I want you to worry about your studies, keep your nose down, maybe join a club or two. But Scorpius, please don't make yourself any enemies." Scorpius' father was looking away from him now, at a man the smoke had just blown away to reveal. He had messy black hair and scrawny, nearly identical boy Scorpius' age stood by his side.

"Dad, that's not Harry Potter is it?" Scorpius gasped and tried to keep from gaping.

"Listen deary, don't you worry about who is and isn't a Potter." His Mother warned him gently, her manicured fingers on his shoulder. "Do your best, make us proud. Write to us and Corvus. Corvus will want to hear from you."

"Yes, Mum."

"And _all_ your Grandparents, too."

"Yes, Mum."

The train's whistle blew and Draco clapped Scorpius on the shoulder. "Good, luck. Do your best. Make sure your teachers like you." Draco smiled and winked, "You can get away with anything if they like you." His mother pulled Scorpius into a hug and patted him on the back. She seemed a bit too choked up to speak anymore.

"I'll be fine, Mum." Scorpius smiled brightly and started backing away with his trunk. "I'll see you both at Christmas.

Astoria snuffled a bit and Draco nodded, "Have a good term."

Scorpius smiled and heaved his trunk onto the Hogwarts express. The long passageway flanked on either side with compartments loomed ahead of him. Older students darted from room to room, and rough housed down the hall. One boy was trying to impress a pretty older girl with a glinting golden snitch. Scorpius pushed past the commotion, looking in each window as his did. Most of these compartments seemed filled to bursting with older students, but at the end of hall (Scorpius thought this was somewhere near the middle of the train) was a compartment holding a few nervous looking first years.

Easily, Scorpius slid the compartment door open and asked brightly, "Is there room for one more?" The other children looked at each other for a moment, as if in silent conversation, before an olive toned, brown haired boy agreed.

"Great, I'm Scorpius Malfoy by the way, what's all of your names?" He asked as he tried to push his trunk up on the rack.

"Here, I'll help you." The brown haired boy offered but Scorpius shook his head.

"No it's all right, _Wingardium Leviosa_!" Scorpius cried and the trunk floated its way up to level with the rack. Scorpius pushed it easily in.

"Wow, you already know magic?" A skinny, freckled boy asked.

"A couple of spells," He replied a bit too haughtily, "Don't you?"

"No! I'm Muggleborn!" The boy looked wide eyed, "Should I?"

Scorpius was wide eyed too, "Whoa, I don't think I've ever met a real Muggleborn before." Scorpius whispered breathlessly.

"Well now you know one," Said the only other occupant of the compartment, a tall black girl who looked at him as if he were liable to curse them all. "His name's Charlie Marsh, if you care to call him by his name." She said coldly.

"I, er, what?" Scorpius looked from the girl to Charlie, and then to the brown haired boy.

"Lydia! I don't think he right cares, Malfoy or not." The brown haired boy shook his head.

"He's already in his _robes_." She sneered.

"So is Rose Weasley!" The boy snapped back and Lydia seemed slightly mollified. "Anyway," He turned his attention back to Scorpius, "My name is Wesley Wood, and she's Lydia Lee." Wesley jerked his finger at the girl, "I'm sure she'll be fine with you being here, _won't she?_" Wesley glared at her.

"I 'spose." Muttered Lydia, but she still glared at Scorpius.

Wesley shook his head and threw himself onto the window seat across from Charlie. Scorpius grinned and sat next to him, which was unfortunately across from Lydia. "So, Slytherin then, Scorpius?"

"I'm not sure, I don't think so." Scorpius shook his head slowly and both Wesley and Lydia's eyebrows shot up, so Scorpius elaborated, "My dad would like it, you know, continue the tradition and all, but you're supposed to have a lot of ambition for Slytherin, and I don't. I just don't have anything that I want very badly, and I don't much care about being cunning either." Scorpius shrugged. "What about you lot?"

"Gryffindor, of course. Like my Dad _and_ my Mum." Lydia lifted her chin haughtily, "It's where all the most noble people go, not to mention the lightest wizards, and _I'm_ certainly not _dark_." She directed the last comment directly at Scorpius, her eyes bore into him and he shifted nervously.

"I for one want Gryffindor, too, it sounds like the coolest by far. I mean, its symbol is a lion? How cool can you get?" Charlie grinned. "I read all about it and the others in some books the school representative suggested I buy." Charlie informed them proudly. Scorpius thought that sounded a bit more like a Ravenclaw than a Gryffindor, but he supposed that plenty of Gryffindors were studious. Maybe.

"That leaves you then, Wesley, what will it be?" Scorpius asked him.

"Not Ravenclaw. That's for sure. Studying all the time sounds boring. Otherwise, I don't know. I don't think I'm suited to Slytherin either, and my dad was Gryffindor." He pondered. "Guess only that and Hufflepuff are left."

The rest of the journey to Hogwarts continued much the same way. The students exchanged stories and argued the important things in life like Quidditch (Wesley's father had played professionally) and music (Charlie insisted that The Clash really was the only band that mattered, but Scorpius, who was fond of muggle music, argued that The Ramones were the superior band). Lydia even warmed up to Scorpius a bit over the course of the train ride, but she still made snide remarks that Scorpius didn't quite understand. They laughed over Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans when the trolley came around, and poor Charlie's first taste of them was flavored like cat litter. He stuck to pumpkin pasties after that.

All too soon, the Hogwarts Express was pulling into Hogsmeade Station. The four kids found themselves jostled about in the crowd and got separated on their way to the boats. Scorpius and Charlie ended up five boats away from Wesley and Lydia but it wasn't bad because they got to share with two pretty twins named Lacey and Lola. The girls were hard to impress, even when Scorpius told them of the time he nearly got sucked into the propellers of an airplane on his broomstick. But Lacey and Lola couldn't help but be left as breathless as everyone else at their first sight of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.


End file.
